When 16-year-old Melissa Sutton started experiencing an unfamiliar pain in her rib cage, her doctors told her she'd just pulled a muscle and gave her some pills to ease her suffering.

Over the course of the next few months, Melissa's discomfort grew to be so debilitating that she could no longer sleep at night, and yet, after ten visits to the doctor, she was continuously dismissed as "just having a sports injury."

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"We saw four different doctors at the same practice in at least ten separate medical appointments and they all brushed us off," Melissa's mom, Alison, told the Daily Mail.

"Melissa would sit on the sofa crying in pain."

"She felt as though no one believed her.

Finally, when she couldn't take the agony anymore, her mother rushed her to the hospital, where doctors realized she had a collapsed lung, as well as Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

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Since then, Melissa, who is in chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, has had four ribs removed.

"We felt like our world had been turned upside down when we were given the diagnosis. For months we knew something was wrong but we weren't listened to," Alison explained.

However, Melissa has endured all of it with great deal of strength and humor, her mom said.

"The first question Melissa asked when she was diagnosed was 'Will I lose my hair?' but now she is proud to be bald because she knows she is bald for a reason. Her positivity gets us both through."

Melissa is sharing her story so that hopefully others won't have to endure what she has.

"I want to raise awareness so that other people who experience the same symptoms don't give up and trust their instincts."